2012 Recap: Five sentenced in Urbana homicide and dismemberment case

Matthew Puccio (pictured left) and four others were sentenced in August for the murder and dismemberment of Puccio’s former girlfriend Jessica Rae Sacco.

Puccio, 26, of Urbana, will spend at least 42 years in prison for the crime. In March, 21-year-old Sacco was found dead in her 625 W. Light St. apartment (pictured right) by her landlord.

According to authorities, Puccio stabbed Sacco in the abdomen. Several hours later, he suffocated her with a plastic bag. Puccio then asked four of his friends that were in the living room at the time of the crime to help him cover up the murder.

Christopher Wright, 37 (pictured left); Sharon Cook, 35 (pictured right); Andrew Forney, 26 (pictured bottom left); and Kandis Forney, 25 (pictured bottom right); pleaded guilty to several charges earlier this year for their role in dismembering Sacco’s body as well as their part in helping Puccio dispose of her limbs in Hamilton, Ohio and northern Kentucky.

Law enforcement officials reported that Puccio, Wright, and Andrew Forney used a sword and knives to dismember Sacco.

A friend of Sacco, Amanda Erb, said the couple met on Facebook about six months prior to the murder. Puccio was a resident of Texas before he moved to Urbana and Sacco was living in California prior to moving to Urbana.

In an exclusive interview with the Springfield News-Sun back in April, Puccio admitted to stabbing, suffocating, and dismembering Sacco. At an arraignment in April, he told Champaign County Common Pleas Court Judge Roger Wilson that he was clinically insane. Puccio pleaded guilty to several charges relating to the murder of Sacco in July.

Puccio was sentenced to life in prison with the possibility for parole after 30 years for aggravated murder by Judge Wilson on August 20. In addition, he will also have to serve 12 consecutive years for felonious assault, tampering with evidence, and two counts of gross abuse of a corpse.

Andrew Forney, Cook, and Wright were also sentenced on August 20. Forney will serve 10 years, Cook was sentenced to three years, and Wright will serve four years.

On August 21, Kandis Forney was sentenced to six years in prison and ordered to forfeit her van, which was used to transport Sacco’s body. Forney pleaded guilty to single counts of failure to report a crime, complicity to tampering with evidence, and obstructing justice.